Burglars’ reign of terror continues in EL suburbs

RESIDENTS in Bonnie Doon, East London, are living in fear as burglars believed to be part of a well organised syndicate continue to plague the area.

Private security companies had to respond in Lower Ridge road and Norwood avenue on Sunday and Monday after thieves broke into two houses but fled emptyhanded after failing to defuse both homes’ alarm systems.

Former Clarendon High School headmaster Owen Nel, who owns the Norwood avenue house, confirmed that there was an intrusion and that the alarm went off, prompting the security response team to react.

Last month Nel told the Dispatch that he feared that the thieves who broke into his home and made off with jewellery and digital equipment would return.

However he refused to link the two incidents.

“It could have been anything or anyone. I didn’t open a case.”

The thieves also fled a Lower Ridge road house before even reaching the premises after they were picked up by sensor beams.

The house is owned by Russianborn Sam Nassimov and his South African wife Nola Nassimov, who own the Premier Hotel Group and the East London International Convention Centre.

Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday, Nola said they had increased security following the scare.

“We are really shaken by the recent spate of crime in our area. We are glad they could not take anything but we have increased our beams,” she said.

The Nassimovs were on a weekend away during the intrusion when they got a call from a security company saying the security beams were activated.

The security firm operations manager, Alistair Bleach, said it was difficult to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the incidents were related but it raised an alarm about the “escalating time range” of the break-ins.

On Friday three flatlets were broken into on Beach Road by three men who allegedly fled in a white Chevrolet sedan.

A case was opened with the Cambridge police the same day. East London police spokeswoman Warrant Officer Hazel Mqala said no arrests had been made.

Three men aged 24 to 27, armed with a crowbar, knives and a toy gun were arrested by police on Friday after they allegedly broke into a Vincent home and stole a flatscreen TV.

The trio were nabbed after their getaway vehicle got stuck on the side of the road after experiencing a mechanical problem.

Police spokesman Captain Mluleki Mbi said when police pulled over to assist the man who was working on the car’s engine, they noticed the other two sitting on top of a plasma TV on the back seat. “On questioning them it came out that it had been stolen in Vincent, East London.

“The suspects were then taken to the said address and they told the police that they had forced the door open to gain entry.

“The owner was then called and he identified his TV.”

Mbi praised Constables Masithembe Dukada and Tobela Mtsi for the arrests.

Mbi said police confiscated the vehicle, crowbar, toy gun and a knife. The men were charged with burglary of residential premises and appeared in the East London Magistrate’s Court this week.

Yesterday Mqala said details of the court outcome were not available as the investigating officer could not be reached. -—